10-year-old songwriter sings a happy tune in contest

Delaney Miller, a fifth-grader at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, stands with her mother, Nicole, in their back yard. Delaney won two rounds of a competition for her song "Making Me Happy" and will next be judged at the state level.ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

To 10-year-old Delaney Miller, singing is just what she does. Take Thursday at school, for example. Instead of talking, she just sang all day, the Concordia Elementary School fifth-grader said with a laugh.

So entering a song she wrote in a competition was a no-brainer.

"I love writing music and I've done it every year. It's just my favorite thing to do," said Delaney, who was born and raised in San Clemente. "I had no idea it was going to win."

Miller entered the PTA Reflections contest for the sixth year in a row; it's something she started in kindergarten. This time, she submitted an upbeat, poppy tune titled "Making Me Happy," for which her neighbor helped develop a background music track.

Reflections is a national arts recognition and achievement program that began in 1969.

Delaney has won for best music composition in grades 3 through 5 in the Capistrano Unified School District and in her age group in Orange County. Now, a recording of her tune will be judged at the state level. Winners will be announced the third week of March, according to the California PTA.

Delaney said the beach inspired her to write the song. You can hear it in the lyrics: "Trees are swaying in the wind/ my feet are cozy in the warm sand/ you are holdin' my hand/ and you're makin' me happy."

Delaney sings with a surprisingly soulful voice for a 10-year-old, peppered with an occasional falsetto at the end of her lines, reminiscent of her inspirations Adele and Norah Jones.

Miller said lyrics sometimes just come to her, like they did at the beach. Other times she has to think about it.

"I think of meaningful words and I think of other meaningful words that rhyme, and that's how I get started usually," she said.

As for what's next, Delaney says she just wants to keep writing songs and maybe start a YouTube channel. One day, when she's old enough, she'll try out for "American Idol," she said.

Could this contest be her big break? Delaney says she's not sure.

"I just want to thank God for it, because it's just like a big opportunity and stuff," she said.

Delaney is not professionally trained, but she does have aspirations to be a vocalist. Her mother, Nicole, said she's waiting to see what Delaney wants as she gets older, because vocal training at a young age could alter her voice before it fully matures.

"She's not in this to win the competition," Nicole Miller said. "She does this because she loves music and it's a chance to express herself."

As for the future, "it's all up to her," Miller said. "If she wants this, she'll make it her own."

Delaney says that if she could give aspiring singers and songwriters advice, it would be to keep singing and writing, no matter what people say.

Related Links

Delaney Miller, a fifth-grader at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, stands with her mother, Nicole, in their back yard. Delaney won two rounds of a competition for her song "Making Me Happy" and will next be judged at the state level. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Delaney Miller's song "Making Me Happy" is moving on to the state level of the PTA Reflections contest. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Delaney Miller sings her song "Making Me Happy" in her San Clemente home. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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